Vegetarian cookbooks, products, and events

Vegetarianism was considered a fringe habit for many years, but in the past two decades it has gained mainstream acceptance. People cite a variety of reasons for vegetarianism. Religions such as Hinduism are against the taking of any life, and Hindus are vegetarians. Others cite the reprehensible treatment of animals in factory farms as the reason for their vegetarianism. Still others are vegetarians out of simple morality. Lastly, there are those who are vegetarians because they believe it is a healthier diet than one that includes meat.

There is some empirical evidence to back up claims of a healthier diet being one that abstains from meat. For instance numerous studies have linked a high consumption of fatty red meats to increased incidences of high cholesterol, heart attack, cancer, and stroke. What have gone uninvestigated are the effects of what we are feeding our animals raised for food. The diet of a typical feed animal is radically different from what it would eat in the wild.

Take mad cow disease for an example. This disease was directly caused by feeding cows the leftover bits of cows that had been sent through the slaughterhouse. Hooves, brains, and other unsalable items were ground up and put back into the feed. This led to a ban on feeding cows another cow’s meat. A major loophole in that ban that exists to this day is that since the skin, hooves, and bones of a cow are not meat, they can still be used to supplement cow feed, and often are.

In addition to that gross misuse of animal feed, there is the more believable, yet equally true dietary discrepancy between wheat, grass, and corn. A range fed cow eats mostly grass, yet a feed cow is fed a diet that is over 70% corn. The corn simply does not have the nutritional aspects a cow needs to survive. In addition to malnutrition, a significant portion of a cow’s manure finds its way back into the feed. Farmers compensate for this by actively feeding their animals antibiotics. Over 45% of all antibiotics in the United States are fed to animals. That’s an astounding number, especially considering that the animals being fed these antibiotics aren’t even sick! This means that when they do get sick, they will have a sickness that is already antibiotic resistant.

That is the root cause of the extreme worry behind such things as the avian flu and swine flu. If farm animals catch a sickness, it is already going to be resistant to treatment, and if that sickness mutates into a disease communicable to humans, then the potential for an epidemic or pandemic spread of the disease is a very real possibility.

Vegetarians as a group are much more aware of issues such as these, and are likely to actively promote awareness of these issues. They are also less likely to be obese. A vegetarian diet usually brings in all the nutrients necessary for a healthy diet with 500 calories less than a meat eater’s diet. Even more significant is the loss of unnecessary fats from the diet. An average American’s diet contains more than twice the fat that is needed. Vegetarians on the other hand are usually well below the threshold for concern.

Supplements and vitamins like flaxseed oil can help maintain health, but, are not to be used in absense of a healthy diet. Whether you are a vegetarian or an avid meat eater, its important to have a balanced diet. Home food storage is important whether you are a vegetarian or not. Check out usafoodstorage.com for all your food storage needs.

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